My Mind Machinates a Mike Mania
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day four hundred and sixty-two:  abc 13 of 26  It was her best birthday, in all her life, and now everything's changed.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 21st cycle. Now cycle 22!_

_**ALPHABET 2.0** - So nearly a year ago (HA!) I had done a set of stories taking inspiration by words, three for each letter of the alphabet (started with Acapella, Audition Arts in mid-February and every other day to April). Well now I wanted to do something like that, but using the alphabet another way. Instead of random words, I made sentences, all with those same letters (you'll see). There'll be 13 here in cycle 22, and the other half in cycle 24!  
**TODAY:** (13 of 26) M is for..._

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**"My Mind Machinates a Mike Mania"  
Younger-ish Mike/Tina, 14yo  
Chang Squared #3 (sequel to "If I don't say it now") **

It was like her phone and texting. For the longest time she didn't have the option for unlimited, and she just couldn't do it, so… she didn't let herself think about it, so… she didn't let herself think about it or care about it. But then her plan was changed, texting was allowed, and so she just… let herself get into it… That was what her situation with Mike felt like…

She wasn't blind; Mike Chang was right up there when it came to her rankings of the boys at her school. He was cute, funny, popular… But she had no delusions that he could ever notice her in that way, so… she didn't let herself think about him or care about him… If she didn't focus on what she couldn't have, then it couldn't hurt her. She just carried on being herself, never seriously pining…

Only now it was almost like things had been changed, after her birthday. She'd never spent any prolonged period of time with him, but that one day she spent hours and hours with him, saw him out of their usual school environment, and she saw something, realized something so unexpected… that maybe she wasn't alone in this.

Okay, so maybe it was just as a friend that he had spent time with her at the arcade, but… he'd come after her! He'd run after her and, when her father properly shamed her by inviting him to her birthday party, he'd said yes… yes… he'd said yes, and he'd come home with her!

She didn't make predictions for the future, but those next birthdays were going to have their work cut out for them if they ever thought of topping this one. Mike was a good guy from what she'd known of him before, but there was so much more to it. And once you got him started… She thought for sure that her cousins, load of girls they were, would have scared him off, but he had some kind of… cousin-taming power… it was amazing, at least to her… And if he never stopped smiling the way he smiled at her, she would have no complaints…

After her cousins and the aunts and uncles left she thought for sure he'd leave too, and that would be that, but… he actually looked like he was trying to find a reason to stay. Never one to disappoint, she tried not to smile too obviously as she asked if he wanted to stay and watch a movie. He tried to answer while not looking like that was exactly what he wanted… and failed miserably, did he ever… If they should ever pinpoint the moment where… switch was flipped and the light came on… This had to be it for her. And if not, then definitely watching the movie…

They'd started off sitting on the couch, on either end. But as the movie got better and better, she moved to sit on the ground, back to the couch, the way she usually ended up when watching TV or a movie there at home. And then not two minutes later, she startled as he did the same, coming to sit on the ground at her side. He didn't say anything, just offered her the bowl of popcorn.

After the movie was done, then he did have to leave, as it was getting late. But he promised, as he had before, that they would hang out more. She wasn't sure if that would come true, but for the time being, she'd opt for trusting his word. At this point, how could she not?

He was kind of… there… everywhere… She couldn't stop thinking about him, which made him everywhere…

He made her brand new. Maybe she was going fast, almost too fast, but there was no stopping her now, no stopping it… Her brain, her heart, somewhere inside her there was some kind of Mike Chang fan club, and it was going all hostile takeover on every other bit of her.

He made her feel bolder, more courageous… like she didn't want to be the weird loner girl anymore. It wasn't like she was going to go all Cheerio or anything, it was more than that… She wasn't trying to change for him, but he was bringing change to her, without realizing.

So if he was in this, then so was she… so very much. Maybe she shouldn't push too hard, risk what they were slowly putting together. But now she was just thinking… maybe a nudge wouldn't hurt.

THE END

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**A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
****always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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